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Man charged with felony spitting

Police say a man threatening to commit suicide spewed blood on an officer who was trying to help him.

Damian Laviathion Jordan, 21, Waupaca is charged with discharging bodily fluids at an officer and resisting an officer.

Shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8, Waupaca Police Sgt. Mario Graceffa was dispatched to the 400 block of Oak Street in response to an anonymous report that Jordan had sent a text message indicating he planned to kill himself.

Graceffa met with Jordan’s father, who said he believed Jordan was with his girlfriend but did not know where they were.

The father called Jordan, asked him to come home and offered him a ride.

According to the criminal complaint, Jordan told his father he was in the Waupaca cemetery and wanted to kill himself.

Graceffa drove to Lakeside Cemetery and called for backup.

After exiting his squad car, Graceffa could hear a man and a woman yelling. He walked toward the voices.

As he crested a ridge, Graceffa could see a woman running after a man, pleading with him to stop.

Jordan yelled, “I just want to die,” police say.

The couple were about 150 yards in front of Garceffa. As he ran after them, he radioed Officer Brent Wittman and told him to move his squad car to Lakeside Parkway near the ambulance station.

Jordan then ran down the steep hill overlooking Lakeside Parkway, while his girlfriend tried to hold him back.

Wittman intercepted Jordan and pushed him down into the grass before he could reach the rocky base above the road.

Both officers fought with Jordan to secure his hands behind his back so they could handcuff him.

During the struggle, Jordan suffered a bloody nose.

Officer Paul Benzschawel arrived and helped Graceffa carry Jordan to a squad car. They laid him in the grass.

“I opened the door to the squad car, picked up Jordan and placed him on the seat,” Graceffa reported. “Jordan then intentionally tilted back his head and nose, and violently blew out his nostrils and spit, causing blood to spray the front of my uniform, arms and face. I closed the door. I then went to the back of the next squad to decontaminate.”

Graceffa washed his face and arms with antibiotic gel and removed his shirt. His pants were torn in two spots.

Graceffa called for an ambulance, but Jordan began banging his head against the bars in the squad car.

Wittman made contact with Waupaca County Health Services, and a mental health crisis plan was immediately implemented.

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